President Widodo shut down this zoo, Venice.. Power of the people and the internet.

Yet again the power of the internet to perpetuate old stories and myths.

Bandung zoo was temporarily closed in 2016 to investigate the death of an elephant and other matters. From May 2016 the owners have made and continue to make phenomenal changes to the zoo, from Mar 2017 it was with with assistance of Cee4life and other organisations. The program is a full upgrade to at least contemporary standards for every facility at the zoo.

I am pretty sure President Widodo has not closed the zoo at this stage in it progress.

In a time of universal deceit - telling the truth is a revolutionary act. George Orwell

We should judge our economy by the absence of poverty, not the number of billionaires - Jeremy Corbyn

President Widodo shut down this zoo, Venice.. Power of the people and the internet.

Yet again the power of the internet to perpetuate old stories and myths.

Bandung zoo was temporarily closed in 2016 to investigate the death of an elephant and other matters. From May 2016 the owners have made and continue to make phenomenal changes to the zoo, from Mar 2017 it was with with assistance of Cee4life and other organisations. The program is a full upgrade to at least contemporary standards for every facility at the zoo.

I am pretty sure President Widodo has not closed the zoo at this stage in it progress.

Well it was the petitions that brought the attention in the first place. Strange that CEE4Life constantly say that the bears were not starving, it was false information banded around the world. BUT, after inspections they have built a new enclosure for the bears and helped with the elephants etc . A privately owned zoo that had no doubt found itself in a bad place due to various problems which could have gone unnoticed without the public rasing the flag in the first place. . The zoo itself having been inspected, re-vamped and is to be re-branded.... so I read, but of course that last bit could be bunkum ! The last paragraphs of their report says it all really . http://www.cee4life.org/current-projects/

A video that was released by an Indonesian group on 16th May 2016, which was said to show “starving” bears, has recently resurfaced and become a viral video causing outrage across the world with animal lovers.

Cee4life was contacted by numerous concerned members of the public and asked to assist.

After investigating these “starvation” claims, Cee4life has found that these claims are false.

After communicating with Indonesian authorities, we can confirm that the video is old and from May 2016. The identity of who re-uploaded the video is unknown at this time.

The situation is as follows:

* In mid 2015, the only Veterinarian that Bandung Zoo had, resigned due to lack of funds. The owner and Chairman of Bandung Zoo carried on the best he could, however he became very ill by early 2016.

* The Minister of Environment and Forestry contacted the Perhimpunan Kebun Bintatang Se- Indonesia or PKBSI, (English translation – Indonesian zoos and Aquariums Association) asking if they could aid Bandung Zoo. PKBSI accepted and has been helping the animals of Bandung Zoo since May 2016.

* PKBSI has sent a team of Veterinarians from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine IPB , the Veterinary Association of Indonesia and a Veterinarian from Taman Safari Indonesia, in addition to curators and head keepers from Taman Safari Indonesia who brought medicine to help the animals of Bandung zoo.

* The Taman Safari Veterinarians rotate through Bandung Zoo 3 days per week until Bandung Zoo employs a Veterinarian of their own.

“Kardit” the Sunbear

There are 11 Sunbears in Bandung Zoo, all have had Veterinary checks and all are in good health. In the original video, a specific sun-bear was identified who looked thinner than the others. This began the “starvation” commentary.

The sun-bear in question is named “Kardit” and he is 23 years old. Kardit is nearly at the full lifespan age of a sun-bear (25 – 30 years) and has a normal physical condition of a bear this age. Kardit eats very well and is not starving. None of the bears or other animals are starving at this time.

The begging that is seen in the video is caused by tourists who have fed the bears. Tourists are not supposed to feed the bears, however many have and the bears have learned to reach out for food when tourists come by. This is a human caused problem that is prevalent in many zoo across SE Asia.

In conclusion, Bandung Zoo was in trouble, but since May 2016 it has been receiving aid from the Indonesian Zoo’s and Aquariums. While the enclosures are not ideal, the animals are being fed and have received Veterinary aid since May 2016. Cee4life will endeavor to monitor the progress of the animals over the coming months to reassure the public that the animals are in good health. It was also found that even if the authorities wish to relocate the animals, there is simply no facility or sanctuary to house these animals at this time.

If there is a need to help out with aid, we will inform the public on this.

There are many photographs and film footage that circulates the internet. It can be very upsetting, however it may not be what it presents as. We highly advise that if you see this type of video please contact Cee4life or any other organisation or authority. Cee4life will always endeavor to investigate the facts.

Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect. ~Chief Seattle

At least some of that is from the Jan 2017 update, things have moved on considerably since then.

I didn't say they hadn't.

What I did point out from the above report , was that the zoo was failing and that had it not been for the public outcry and petition ,rightly or 'wrongly' as it would appear to be, then nobody would have been any the wiser and Cee4Life nor anyone else would have been called in, or done inspections. The fact that the vet had left and the owner was ill around the same period time, does raise suspicions that not everything was OK. A zoo without a vet has to be something of serious proportions.

In addition, there are a lot of accusations being raised about Cee4Life ,Briony Wolf and Sybelle Foxcroft, as you will see from the petition that was raised below from Nov 2017. which also points out that the bear pen still hadn't been completed.

"d) According to Wild Welfare’s report, during their visit in February 2017, the bears were locked away in their dens because of “renovations”. And then, when my team visited in June 2017, the bears were locked away again because of “renovations”. So here we are, 10 months after the first apparent “renovation” and six months after the second apparent “renovation” and yet the enclosure is still NOT RENOVATED."

Last edited by granny; 2nd Sep 20188:31am.

Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect. ~Chief Seattle

What I did point out from the above report , was that the zoo was failing and that had it not been for the public outcry and petition ,rightly or 'wrongly' as it would appear to be, then nobody would have been any the wiser and Cee4Life nor anyone else would have been called in, or done inspections.

I haven't seen any evidence that the public outcry was the trigger. The trigger was the inspection after the death of an elephant, they wanted to close the zoo down but there would have been no way of doing this without euthanising many of the animals so the owner was given the option of improving standards.

The owner should no longer be pilloried as he is making huge progress.

In a time of universal deceit - telling the truth is a revolutionary act. George Orwell

We should judge our economy by the absence of poverty, not the number of billionaires - Jeremy Corbyn

The video was originally posted in 2016. This taken from their report on the link above.

On the 23rd January 2017, Cee4life were notified numerous times of “starving sun-bears” in Bandung Zoological Gardens and we were urged to help. We too saw the video and were concerned about Kardit the sun bear. We contacted the Indonesian Zoos and Aquariums on the 23rd January 2017 and received a thorough report by 25th January 20.

If we look at the feedback on trip advisor, some this year, that's more points of view.

Thanks to people around the world, seven moon bears and a sun bear were rescued from a collective 111 years of cruelty in 2018.

Mai, Mekong, Star, LeBon and Kim were rescued from the far south of Vietnam, while Sky was broken out of a cage in the mountainous far north.

Precious was rescued and given her first ever name by the very people who funded her rescue and beautiful sun bear Aurora shone brightly on her incredible 1,500km journey through floods to sanctuary.

All eight bears have begun their rehabilitation with Mai, Mekong and . Star making their first ever friendships last month.

In 2019 you will see these eight individuals go from strength to strength as they re-learn how to be bears, become healthy, forge relationships and go out to forage and play in the sanctuary's large enclosures.

Thank you for getting them this far. Without you they would still be in those tiny, barren cages, peaking out at a cruel world through the bars. Instead, they are well on their way to beautiful new lives.

This man is amazing ! He is the one who took the teams into Libya, Mosul in Iraq ,Gaza , and Aleppo, Syria to rescue the zoo animals from starvation and the war zones. The amount of work involved between all the different authorities and groups of rebels, ISIS and other factions, was immense and very scary for them . Their (4paws) latest big rescue( about 2 months ago) of 11 animals was from a zoo in Albania , but I'm not sure if he was on that mission. I watched this rescue (most of it) as they quite often video live rescues. Fortunately they just managed to complete in a full day, before dark.

Syrian Rescue (one of the tigers died last month in the Netherlands, the other is still there. One of the hyenas died a few months after rescue, and one of the lions has gone to Lions Rock in S.Africa. The bears are ok, and another lioness but no updates on any of the others, and they are still in Jordan.

Another rescue of Luna. A little elephant that has suffered so much for so long in India. So poorly and weak, she was unable to stand up . Wildlife SOS managed to secure her rescue and transported her over the last couple of days.She arrived in the hospital about 3.30am this morning.